Helping Students Become More Sophisticated About Advertisements
“This They Believe? Adolescents, Advertising, and Critical Thinking Skills” by David Considine in Middle Ground, April 2010 (Vol. 13, #4, p. 14-15), no e-link available; Considine can be reached at considinedm@appstate.edu.
In this article in Middle Ground, Appalachian State University professor David Considine suggests five aspects of commercial advertising that help adolescents look more critically at consumer products and how they are marketed:
- Product – the item or service that’s being sold;
- Purchasers – the target audience – for example, a Jitterbug cell phone ad stressing “You won’t find a camera, the Internet, or a complicated menu with confusing pictures”;
- Pitch – what persuasive device is being used – everything from the Marlboro man to sell cigarettes to Snoopy as the image of MetLife Insurance;
- Placement – in what magazine, program, or TV time-slot is it being positioned – for example, where would a company market a sugary breakfast cereal? Luxury cars?
- Presentation – how it’s packaged, including the words, typestyle, color, images, wrapper, and shape.
“Helping our students recognize the tools, techniques, and language of contemporary advertising might temper adolescent impulsivity and the need for instant gratification,” says Considine. “Simultaneously, it can nurture healthy skepticism and more skillful consumers for the 21st century.” He suggests several websites as resources:
• Ad*Access at Duke University, with over 7,000 newspaper and magazines ads from 1911 to 1955: http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess
• Presidential campaigns since 1952: http://livingroomcandidate.org
• PBS with clips and tricks of advertising: http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks
• Fun TV advertising from earlier decades: http://www.retrojunk.com
Helping Students Become More Sophisticated About Advertisements
“This They Believe? Adolescents, Advertising, and Critical Thinking Skills” by David Considine in Middle Ground, April 2010 (Vol. 13, #4, p. 14-15), no e-link available; Considine can be reached at considinedm@appstate.edu.In this article in Middle Ground, Appalachian State University professor David Considine suggests five aspects of commercial advertising that help adolescents look more critically at consumer products and how they are marketed:
- Product – the item or service that’s being sold;
- Purchasers – the target audience – for example, a Jitterbug cell phone ad stressing “You won’t find a camera, the Internet, or a complicated menu with confusing pictures”;
- Pitch – what persuasive device is being used – everything from the Marlboro man to sell cigarettes to Snoopy as the image of MetLife Insurance;
- Placement – in what magazine, program, or TV time-slot is it being positioned – for example, where would a company market a sugary breakfast cereal? Luxury cars?
- Presentation – how it’s packaged, including the words, typestyle, color, images, wrapper, and shape.
“Helping our students recognize the tools, techniques, and language of contemporary advertising might temper adolescent impulsivity and the need for instant gratification,” says Considine. “Simultaneously, it can nurture healthy skepticism and more skillful consumers for the 21st century.” He suggests several websites as resources:
• Ad*Access at Duke University, with over 7,000 newspaper and magazines ads from 1911 to 1955:
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess
• Presidential campaigns since 1952: http://livingroomcandidate.org
• PBS with clips and tricks of advertising: http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks
• Fun TV advertising from earlier decades: http://www.retrojunk.com